


The Spirited Game

by whosays_penultimate



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Ghosts, M/M, no beta we die by Pooh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:34:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22149514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whosays_penultimate/pseuds/whosays_penultimate
Summary: Javier, Yuzuru, and a couple of ghosts looking for playthings.
Relationships: Javier Fernández/Yuzuru Hanyu
Comments: 8
Kudos: 24





	The Spirited Game

“Look at them.”

“I see them, yes.”

“So young. So hopeful.”

“So _doomed_.”

“Erica, _behave_.”

“Oh, please, like you weren’t thinking it.”

“We promised we’d be good for once. When’s the last time we had some harmless entertainment?”

“But darling”, the crystalline voice whined, “they’re _perfect_.”

“No”, the man’s voice was firm. “We’re gonna enjoy ourselves for once just by watching, not....acting.”

“...Fine”, came the whiny voice. “I consent.....for now.”

Down in the rink, Javier Fernandez shivered.

“Hey, did you guys just feel a sudden cold?”

“....We’re in an ice rink”, came the dry reply from his coach.

“Yeah sure but....it was more like a sudden gust of cold wind.”

Brian shrugged.

“I didn’t feel anything.”

“I did”, Yuzuru said. “Like someone touched me on the shoulder, but when I turned, there was no one.”

“This rink is creepy”, Javier insisted.

Brian rolled his eyes.

“It’s in an old building, sure, and there are probably some unsealed windows and stuff. The architecture is really marvelous, though”, he said, looking upwards at the grand domed building.

“I heard that this building used to be a private residence, believe it or not. Before the wars. But the owners commited suicide and they had no living relatives so the building was taken over by the state. They wanted to turn it into a residential flat with many apartments but after a few years there was a fire here which killed a lot of people. The building was so destroyed that only the skeletal structure remained. So eventually they turned it into an ice rink. Pretty creepy, huh?”

“That’s an urban legend, Javier.”

“But the fire was real—“

“We don’t care about such things”, Brian interrupted, “we’re just here for the exhibition, remember?”

“But what if there _are_ ghosts?” Yuzuru insisted.

“Are you afraid of ghosts, then?” Brian rounded up on him.

“Me?” Yuzuru reacted, affronted. “Hah. No....”

“No way”, Javier echoed. “But it’s cre—“

“Stop saying it’s creepy”, Brian burst out annoyed, running a hand through his thinning hair. “I hate dealing with teenagers”, he muttered to himself under his breath. “Can we go back to training now?”

“Suuuuure, Brian.”

Only half an hour later, the lights flickered briefly and then blinked right off. Brian sighed, with the harrassed look of a man who cannot catch a break.

“I’m sorry, we’re looking into it”, a maintenance man told him, as he came running. “Old building, you see...”, he smiled apologetically.

Brian smiled back briefly, with a strained sort of politeness. He looked up at the domed ceiling critically. It was not late in the day but the cloudy sky and the dusty windows made visibility an issue in the absence of artificial lighting.

Javier skated to the boards, following Brian’s look.

“Those windows are so high up, they probably only get cleaned once a year”, he said.

“Yeah”, Brian murmured. “And I think you were right earlier, it does feel colder than normal for an ice rink. Well, not ideal conditions, but we’ll make it somehow”, he decided, as he rubbed his gloved hands, and tried to remain optimistic. “They said they’re going to fix the lights. Until then, take a break. Yuzuru, you too.”

Yuzuru was standing in a darkened corner of the rink and if he heard Brian, he gave no sign of it. He was staring fixedly at a patch of discoloration on the wall. It looked like a hand with long, gaunt fingers. He could have sworn it was a human hand carved into the wall, but how could that be – and why? And suddenly, as Yuzuru edged closer to inspect it – it moved; fast as lightning, it shot out, gnarly fingers reaching towards Yuzuru and clutching his wrist. Yuzuru gave a piercing shriek and shook his arm, terrified – the grip was monstrously strong and bitterly cold, like steel shackles, but it only lasted an instant, because in the next moment, Javier appeared next to him, and the grip was suddenly gone.

“Yuzu...?” Javier asked. “What is it, what’s going on?”

He looked scared, but not scared enough, in Yuzuru’s opinion.

“What do you mean what happened?” Yuzuru shouted. “Didn’t you _see?”_

“I didn’t see anything. I just heard you scream, and hurried over.”

“There was this _monster_ that grabbed me–“ he pointed towards the wall, but there was no hand there anymore, not even the discoloration in the wall that Yuzuru had been so fascinated by.

“....Yuzu?” Javier asked again, tentative.

“I uh.... I don’t know what happened”, Yuzuru admitted. He shook his head, bewildered. “Crazy.” He looked again at the wall, critically. “Sometimes when I can’t get enough oxygen to brain, I hallucinate. Doesn’t happen often and now I feel okay, but that must be it.”

“Right...”, Javier said, still eyeing him warily. “Well, Brian said we should take a break, c’mon.”

Yuzuru followed him, still frowning and casting furtive glances behind him.

A woman’s disembodied giggle echoed in his wake, and a crystalline voice spoke with affectation:

“Whatever happened to _just watching_ , darling?”


End file.
